20 Science Activities for Early Elementary
As many of you may know, I have been working hard to get some of the images in our older posts working again. (It’s a complicated story, but it has to do with our moving our blog from Parents.com where we were for several years, to our new location here.) Anyway, I’ve been fixing old posts and realized I should share some of these posts for our new readers! So here are some science posts that may be of interest for those with kids around 4-7 years old or so.
Be sure to visit our video post: Homeschool Science in Early Elementary and the resource list:
Invertebrate-Vertebrate Unit Study: Montessori Activities: We went over the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates and we also went over the 5 animal groups.
We have worksheets on vertebrates and invertebrates in this unit: Animal Unit – Vertebrate and Invertebrate Worksheets and Activities
Working With Mealworms: When ED was in kindergarten and DD was in Grade 2, we did a unit on mealworms. All of the kids really liked these activities. You can visit this post for more experiments and a pdf you can download with our Mealworm Activity Sheet:
We also studied Earthworms: Hands-On Invertebrate Fun! Part I – Earthworms and the earthworm life cycle
And Planaria (a type of flatworm): Hands-On Invertebrate Fun! Part II – Planarian – which you can order. They are easy to care for and are fascinating to study because they regenerate.
Free Printable:
Free Montessori 3-Part Cards: Amphibians, Frog Life Cycle Notebook (and lapbook) Page
You will find other Montessori 3-part cards at this post: Various Montessori 3-Part Cards including the living-nonliving cards and the vertebrate-invertebrate cards (which are free).
Oil and Water Activity This is a HUGE hit whenever we do this!
Color Explosion in Milk – My kids also really liked this. You can print out instructions at this post.
Building Molecules – This is an activity we did the first time we studied chemistry. There’s a free printable with some of the molecules the kids build.
Visit our States of Matter Activities at this post
States of Matter Packet
- Chemistry Experiments for Kids (Grade 2) – Matter is neither created nor destroyed, Acids and Bases Experiment –There is a free printable with ALL of these experiments at either of these two posts.
Free Daily Calendar Page: This was a calendar page I made for ED when she was 6. She checked the temperature each morning and filled it in on the calendar page. I made that for her around the same time I made the Math Lapbook (also free) for her.
Where I Live Activity – This is more geography than science, but it was really helpful for understanding the relative size of the planet, continent, country, state, etc..
Learning about the Solar System: Kit the Kids Loved
Links to posts in our Astronomy Unit (when the kids were 3, 5, 7 or so)
- Free Planets of the Solar System Pages (and we have some free astronomy pages for Middle School here)
- Earth Science Unit — Gravity
- Earth Science — Gravity: the planets, moon and space
- Astronomy Unit: Refraction, Vacuum, Saturn’s Rings
- Astronomy Unit: Inner and Outer Planets, The Asteroid Belt
- Astronomy Unit: The Moon (Day 1)
- Astronomy Unit: The Moon (Day 2)
- Phases of the Moon Activity: Homemade Oreo Cookie Recipe (Yum!!)
Rainforest Unit (Amazon Rainforest): We talked about the Amazon rainforest region, biodiversity, deforestation, different types of animals, the layers of the rainforest (and also where various animals live in those layers), rainforest insects and more! You can check out our 50+ Page Packet here:
Rainforest Plants (from around the world)
Montessori 3-Part Cards on Nocturnal-Diurnal Animals When ED was in kindergarten we talked about what makes day and night and also studied nocturnal and diurnal animals:
Free Printable:
World Animals Unit: 60+ Page Packet for Ages 3-6 includes Montessori 3-Part Cards and activity pages for each of the 7 continents
Animal Unit – Animal characteristics, animal classification (the animal kingdoms, vertebrates and invertebrate groups), insects vs. spiders, animal tracks and more!
We also did a large Rocks and Minerals Unit when the kids were preschool and early elementary age. There is a free rocks and minerals packet here, plus we did tons of hands-on activities with this unit!! Half the packet was for my older kids (ages 6 and 8) and half of it was for my preschooler at the time (with tracing, etc.). This packet is FREE.
You might also be interested in these Earth Science posts. We did a *ton* of fun hands-on activities in this unit too!
- Earth Science Packet: Layers of the Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, 4 Types of Mountains and More!
- Earth Science Layers of the Earth Activity
- Earth Science: Plate Movement Hands-On Activiites
- Earth Science Packet: Layers of the Atmosphere
- Earth Science Activities: Earthquakes, Plate Movement and Mountain Making
- Learning about Latitude and Longitude, Using a Compass
- Earth Science: Timeline of Earth Activity – A Montessori activity that is meant to impress kids with the enormity of time on Earth.
- Earth’s Geologic Timeline – How scientists divide Earth’s history into eons and eras
- Earth Science: Plate Movement Hands-On Activities
- How to Make a Earthquake Shake Table
- Awesome Gelatin Volcano and other Activities
- Earth Science Activities: Tissue Paper Volcano
- Free Water and Water Cycle Resources
- Topographic Maps
- The Three Types of Rocks: Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous
- Free Rocks and Minerals Packet
- World Biomes Pin Map
- Preschool Geography
- Preschool Math Activities (K4) – Montessori Math and More
We also studied the human body regularly from preschool age on up:
- Human Body Organs (Preschool)
- The Human Body Bones (Preschool) – This has some of the activities we did when we studied the bones
- Brush Your Teeth Experiment
- Skeletal System Worksheet Packet & 6 Hands-On Activities About Bones (and Skeleton Packet)
- Human Body Activities – Digestive System – We did this unit when the kids were 5, 7, and 9. You might want to check out our hands-on activities of the Esophagus, Stomach, Small Intestines
My kids really loved learning about Natural Disasters in early elementary. We did a lot of neat hands-on science activities in that unit.
Natural Disasters Packet: (Currently Free)
I’ll include this last experiment, just because it is really neat: Where Do Germs Grow in Your House?!
That’s about it for today! See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out our Science Resource Page which has links to dozens of science posts. And don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. 
Happy Homeschooling! ~Liesl
P.S. You might be interested in these free Curriculum Resource Guides:
Creating Your Own Homeschool Curriculum: These are some resources I made that might be helpful as you create your own homeschool plans. These are somewhere between 30 and 50 pages and are FREE to download:
P. P.S. Our store is getting a bit of a make-over. Hooray! I can’t tell you how many people have asked me if there was a way to purchase more than one item at a time. Since I run this blog on my own and always super busy juggling our homeschooling (and homeschool planning), outside activities, and work on the website/business… it has taken a long time to get to this! (Sheepish grin here!)
You can pop over to check out our store here. I have the science and history units done and hope to have the rest done in the next week or so. Thank you all *so* much for your support! My dear readers totally rock! ~Liesl
Our packets are pdf downloads.
